In recent years, HBO's Hard Knocks has served as something of a bridge between the offseason and the regular season. A guilty pleasure that got us through the tediousness of training camps (although we'd now gladly endure such tedium if it mean actual football … but don't worry, it's coming!) and offered us a glimpse behind the curtain.

There was no other show like it on television and for various reasons, there won't be a show like it this preseason, either. Sports Illustrated's Peter King tweets:

Luckily, we won't have time to bemoan the monotony of those few weeks between the start of training camp and the final preseason game because once the lockout ends, the race to the regular season will be frenetic (we're guessing the interpretive dance would look something like this).

Over the weekend, Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff indicated that his team might be ready for the HBO Hard Knocks spotlight. Dimitroff said the club turned down the opportunity two years ago but may respond differently if approached again.

That different response won’t come in 2011. Falcons coach Mike Smith told NFL Network’s Scott Hanson that the team had internal discussions about the possibility but came to the decision not to do it.

Lately, it seems like turning down Hard Knocks has become as popular as watching Hard Knocks. The Buccaneers and Lions have both said no, thanks. The Broncos are not interested. No one has mentioned the Patriots, Colts or Steelers, but we’ll assume that the old “when Hell freezes over” cliché applies to the likelihood of them participating. And, sadly for all fans, the Jets have indicated that they do not wish to give an encore performance.

Maybe these rejections won’t matter, anyway. After all, Hard Knocks is based on the assumption that training camps will be held.

"It’s one thing to have cameras on the practice field. These guys are used to that and every day there’s cameras, fans watching them practice and things like that," Schwartz said last year about the show. "But when you start getting into meeting rooms, when you start getting into the cafeteria, into the dorms, into the locker room and things like that, it changes the vibe."

Plus, I'd tune in just to watch Jim Schwartz listen to Metallica in his office. But, the front office also knows this is a team trying to shed a losing culture that's permeated the entire organization for many years, and it's probably a smart move to keep egos, etc., in check by leaving the cameras at he door.

But what about the Falcons? The seemingly odd fit for HBO's reality television series about training camp should be considered a possibility, according to Atlanta GM Thomas Dimitroff.

"Two years ago we were approached and decided that it wasn’t right for us at that point,” Dimitroff said on Sirius, via Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "That’s not to say we wouldn’t go down that road if it was presented to us at another time. We are much closer to being in that spot where it’s not going to be as much of a distraction as it would have been another time.

"It’s such an individual thing. Hard Knocks could be right for some of the teams that are fairly entrenched. It could be right for some team that wants to kick off some more brand recognition."

Brand-iness is certainly something that the Falcons could use: look no further than where they fall amongst the elite teams from 2010. You had the Steelers, the Packers, the Bears, the Jets, the Patriots ... and the Falcons.

You can argue more teams were "elite" (or less) if you want, but whatever. The point is that the Falcons are easily the most vanilla of the teams listed there.

Vanilla isn't bad, per se, but it's not gonna sell jerseys outside of the ATL. A "Hard Knocks" appearance won't turn a team into a pile of superstars overnight, but it will make the general football-watching world vastly more interested in what happens to the Falcons the year of the show.

That might not seem like the type of thing Dimitroff would be interested in, but you can definitely argue that making the team more marketable falls under his responsibilities as well.

"Although we recognize the value of the show and the exposure that accompanies it, we are going to continue to rely on other platforms to give our fans up-close access to the Broncos," Patrick Smyth, Broncos' Executive Director of Media Relations, told CBSSports.com.

The Broncos would have been a fascinating team to watch on the show, for a number of reasons: they have Tim Tebow (always a draw), they have a potential quarterback battle on their hands, they have a new coach in John Fox, they have a new guy running the show in John Elway, they have a pair of storyline-worthy rookies in Von Miller and Nate Irving, and they've been incredibly transparent as an organization lately, beating reporters to scoop by embracing Twitter.

But it also makes sense to pass on opening up the doors to HBO. The labor climate makes it very easy for potentially unwelcome made-for-TV drama to unfold naturally.

And the Broncos are in a rebuilding mode: as much talent as they have on the roster -- and they do have talent -- it's a organization that's probably more concerned with instilling the a homogeneous culture change than it is with getting its players a bunch of airtime on HBO.

Jon Beason has sued the man who sued him over an alleged punch in the face (Beason claims he never hit anybody). The trial is underway and filled with plenty of drama. If you’re into that sort of thing (and let’s admit, deep down, most of us are) then click here.

One of the highlights of observing/reporting on training camp every year is watching Hard Knocks and seeing what mildly insane speech/interview comes out of the minds and mouths of NFL players and coaches.

There was Bengals coach Marvin Lewis’ “Be a f------ pro!” and Rex Ryan’s “Let’s go eat a g------ snack!” and Jets CB Antonio Cromartie’s struggle to remember the ages of all his children.

Quality stuff, all of it.

So, if the NFL lockout prevents training camp from starting on time – or taking place at all – another annual viewing experience will be lost. But if there IS a training camp and there IS a Hard Knocks, there’s a chance the Buccaneers could be the 2011 subject.

That’s according to ESPN.com’s Pat Yasinskas, who writes that Tampa Bay’s club is the leading candidate to be featured.

Coach Raheem Morris likely wouldn’t drop quite as many F-bombs as Ryan (could anybody?) but he could showcase his charisma, while the Buccaneers could focus on young players like QB Josh Freeman, RB LeGarrette Blount and WR Mike Williams.

Like just about every Hard Knocks ever produced, it would probably make for mandatory viewing. WARNING: THE VIDEO BELOW IS NSFW WITH EXPLICIT (LIKE F-BOMBS AND EVERYTHING) LANGUAGE

For more NFL news, rumors and analysis, follow @cbssportsnfl on Twitter and subscribe to our RSS Feed.

On Friday, Joe Namath hosted the first edition of "Broadway Blitz," his own show on Sirius NFL radio. We wrote about said show on Thursday , and said "there's almost a near guarantee that we'll be discussing his comments here at some point in the next few weeks."

In hindsight, we were wrong. CLEARLY, it wasn't going to take that long for Namath to say something on the air that gets everyone all rabble-rabbled up. In fact, on Friday, the former Jets quarterback dropped this little ditty, via Pro Football Talk , when Adam Schein asked him if "Hard Knocks" was a mistake:

"I think so," Namath said. "I think it is for any team that's going to work to do their best to get to be their best. It's what we call 'distractions.' You're going to spend more time away from thinking about your position, your job, and the details of it when you've got other things going on around you that you're partaking in. It has to be a distraction and you can't have spent as much time on your mental preparation and homework as you would have without the distractions. So, yeah, I don't think it was a positive."

He also went on to discuss Mark Sanchez ("the only flaw is his age and experience at this point" -- hrrrrrrrrrrrrm) and the Patriots, who he called a "stronger team," before declining to actually confirm that the Pats defense was better this year.

All-in-all, Namath's review of his boys was significantly less enthusiastic than a Jets fan would probably want -- then again, if there's been anyone praising the Jets this week following that Monday Night stink-bomb against the Ravens, we'd love to meet them.